Why Latinos Aren't Signing Up For Obamacare Insurance Exchanges
Is Obamacare a success or failure? Well, depending on what side of the political aisle you're talking to, you'd surely get wildly divergent answers. However, one thing about Obamacare is certain. The Latino community is not signing up for the healthcare plans. With only six weeks to go until the March 31 deadline will there be a significant uptick in in Latino participation?
Now to be clear, you don't need to sign up online or in person for insurance through the healthcare marketplace if you are already insured by your employer, parents (up until age 26 usually) or already own an individual plan. Just go ahead with you normal day-to-day lives and treat March 31 like any other day.
If you don't own or obtain a health insurance policy by the deadline then your in for a rude awakening. While nothing overtly terrible happens to you (i.e. being arrested) if you either forget to sign up or just flat out refuse to sign up the IRS will be knocking. Everyone's favorite government agency will say you owe them a tax penalty.
There's numerous reasons why Latino's aren't signing up. Chief among those reasons are unfamiliarity and fear. A large swath of the 50 million strong Latino American's don't understand the benefits of owning an health insurance policy.
"Some of these families have never had insurance in their lives," said Xavier Morales, executive director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California.
"You have to have a lot of face-to-face discussions with folks to educate them," said Frank Rodriguez, executive director of the Latino Healthcare Forum in Texas.
If these lessons don't illustrate why health insurance is a good thing to have, then it's likely that participation rates will continue to be low among this segment of the population.
"People need to see their neighbors are relatives are signing up and getting that insurance card and accessing insurance," Morales said.
Since the Affordable Care Act is the single biggest piece of legislation that the Obama administration has been pushing it's necessary that people continue to sign up for the plans for it to be considered a success. President Obama already figured out how to convince the Latino electorate to overwhelmingly vote for him twice. Now Obama will have to influence the Latino community again.
Getting people to vote and signing up for private health insurance are two different things however. Most people can walk in to a polling center and vote with little to no backlash. Some Latinos are concerned that in the case of the healthcare marketplace too much confidential, private information will be requested of them. They fear that somehow the government will find out about their relatives who are in the country illegally.
"It's a very real barrier," say Daniel Zingale, vice president of the California Endowment, a Los Angeles, California based non-profit organization that serves the Latino community.
"Families are worried about being deported and divided by having any official interaction with the government," he remarked.
10.2 million Latinos are eligible for Obamacare, but government policy won't force America's largest minority group from going against their culture according to Jane Delgado. Delgado is the president and CEO of the Washington D.C.-based Hispanic Health organization.
"Our community is about family, so protecting the family comes first," said Delgado.
"This is very personal information that they're being asked to share," Delgado added.
Sky high deportation rates aren't helping the Obama administration out says Daniel Zingale of California Endowment.
"There's a great deal of skepticism and a lack of trust, and it's understandable given the large number of families who have been divided and deported," said Zingale.
"Latinos comprise roughly half of all Californians who are eligible for Obamacare, so if we fail among Latinos we will fail in implementing the new law," he added.
"There are a lot of challenges in enrolling large numbers of people in California, especially when there are cultural and language barriers," Zingale remarked. "We have a poor track record here of enrollment in public programs ... so we're trying to break our losing streak with Obamacare, and there are signs that we're moving in the right direction."
"I don't think it's asking too much for the president himself to offer legal Americans eligible for Obamacare the reassurance that they can enroll in this program without having their loved ones deported," said Zingale.
Are you one of the millions of Americans who don't currently have health insurance? If so, getting a plan is easy. Just head on over to getcoveredamerica.org to find out more information.
Do you support the Affordable Care Act or do you think the law should be repealed? Let me know in the comments section below.